It’s Freezing in LA, #3
The third issue of climate change mag It’s Freezing in LA highlights protest, noting the use of strikes and marches by environmentalists while reminding us the gilets jaunes in France have protested against fuel price hikes aimed at ecological change.
‘Long-term environmental thinking is essential,’ the magazine concludes, ‘but, as it stands, clunky policy is putting the short-term weight on the most vulnerable’. The issue delivers vibrant ideas how this might be achieved, looking at guerilla gardening (think Waterloo Bridge), the energy efficiency of new buildings and the ecological challenge of mass-producing electric cars.
Like last time, the linking theme is highlighted throughout the issue by a single visual device. The last issue used images of smoke from the California wildfires; here, streams of dots represent the child marchers of the Global Climate Strike held on 15 March this year. The cover and opening spreads of each feature feature these streams, each with pale grey dots of different size.
A key on page 30 explains the different dot sizes (above). Their scale is relative to the numbers of marchers in each of ten parts of the world. If it’s slightly inexact comparing the 100 marchers of Japan with the 940,000 in the EU, the general point is made and the text accompanying each of the ten areas provides vital context.
But that simple dots device gives the issue its own distinctive visual identity, holding it together without disrupting the many illustrations used to express individual stories.
Editor: Martha Dillon
Art and visual content: Nina Carter
Design: Matthew Lewis